Code Geass R2 Episode 25 (Finally!)

How Long Do You Think Until Somebody Starts Drawing Doujins Of Nunally In This Outfit. Anyone Who Spots Any Art Of This One Please Don’t Hesitate To Let Me Know

Time to finish up. Short impressions this week as I really am looking forward to getting the blogging of this show over and watching the sub on my own terms. I figure this is the last episode and I’d like to save the pleasure of the subbed episode for myself. After that I really am taking a vacation as I have nothing left on the table right now that I’m obligated to finish blogging.

Thoughts: Basically all you need to know is that Zero’s Requiem is carried out like planned, and things turn out relatively okay for most of the cast other then a few characters. The ending is a bit ambiguous and leaves the lives of most of the cast open for possible future exploration in an OVA or sequel, but then I sort of like things that way as it gives you a sense that there’s a future to the Geass world and that although Zero’s story has ended there’s more going on that is another story all to itself. It also normally makes for interesting discussion when you have an open end such as this, but since Code Geass is kind of special when it comes to internet discussion that probably won’t happen. I’ll still have the chance to mull over things in my own head though long after the shows over and that should be fun I suppose. I disagree with the idea that there was no closure though, because there definitely was a sense of finality to things as for as far as this story is concerned, but life sort of goes on as usual and peace is restored in the end. Britannia is now in fairly capable hands and the areas are now free from it’s tyranny and all seems fairly well in the world. Some may call it too easy, but I think it was a pretty hard fought peace given all the suffering people had to go through to attain it, especially Lelouch who appears to have paid the ultimate price.

Becoming the demon king and getting offed ceremoniously by Suzaku disguised as Zero who plays the hero once more (keep in mind that most people don’t know that Lelouch was Zero other then the Black Knights) was pretty depressing to see, though they left it open with the idea that the person driving C.C’s coach at the end might actually be Lelouch and that he indeed stole Charles code somehow at the end of episode 21 and survived the killing blow. Personally I doubt it though. Taniguchi said that Lelouch would get a satisfying ending and being able to finally die for all the sins he’s committed and knowing that a desire for peace afterward would be the result is probably the most satisfying ending he could think of. Though I kind of dislike the idea of what it does to Nunally in making her suffer. It’s not just about her anymore and she’s grown to the point where she’s a fairly capable leader in and of herself with a certain kind of strength of character that she never knew she had. Nunally by the way looking beyond hot in that red dress she was wearing at the end of the episode. I won’t lie that I was almost gasping for breath once I saw that scene. The girls grown up and I think she’ll probably be a fine Empress…..

….You can tell I’m really not into this can you folks. Again, it’s not because I didn’t like the ending, although I felt some parts of it were indeed rushed, it’s just that I really want to be free of the obligation of finishing up blogging this series. When I first started blogging this show it was so much fun following the episodes and writing summaries and thoughts for them, but now I sort of feel I’m wasting my time. The thing is, people have such strong opinions about this show one way or another that I really don’t think anything I say will have any real influence or meaning in the long run and that’s sort of the feeling I’ve gotten in general lately about blogging, what’s the point? To give your opinion on a show? To convince other people of your viewpoint? Some of the veteran bloggers will tell you that episodic blogging is a bit of a waste of time and ultimately a pitfall, and you know, I sort of see that now.

The way I see it, when it comes to anime most people make up their mind how they are going to view the rest of a show fairly quickly and will invariably ultimately reach the similar conclusions by the end and I myself am guilty of this as is anybody. I don’t think now that there is such a thing as an unbiased blogger and in that sense episodic blogging kind of feels like busy work to me now. Writing for the sake of writing, but ultimately the conclusion is set in stone. Crap or epic, trainwreck or satisfying, it’s kind of predetermined by the bloggers inherent biases as somebody named Myssa Rei tried to tell me not to long ago and I failed to listen. It’s true though, at least that’s the geniuine impression I’ve gotten and people are free to try and convince me otherwise, but my view on that matter is pretty much as set in stone as some peoples view of the show.

Now that that’s out of the way…..hmmmm…what else to say really…well Ougi and Viletta seem to have finally tied the knot, and at this point I sort of see the….errrr…point of their little love story. It’s the centrepiece for the final happy go lucky moments of the series and their interacial relationship is sort of the official recognization of Britannia and Japan’s new relationship. One of general tolerance, acceptance and hopefully equality. They seemed to come together and drift apart at times equivalent to when Britannia and Japan were getting close to finding a resolution to their conflict and reaching a detente and times when they were in all out war respectively. It was only after this final piece that they final came together, so I think their relationship was meant to be as symbolic as it was plot point within the show.

As for the not so good, the final battle between Lancelot Albion and Guren Seiten on top of feeling unnecessary was a bit of a generic all out slug fest resulting in the mutal destruction of both suits. It was fast and furious, but something about it just felt……meh. There were also some strange results at the end such as Jeremiah ending up apparently adopting Anya and moving out to an Orange farm after degeassing her. The two never really knew each other before this moment so I don’t get how they suddenly buddied up. Maybe Anya remembered Jeremiah from her time at the palace and thought he was the best person to trust and spend the aftermath of the battle with.

In the end really I think there are those who will dislike this episode no matter what strength’s it has, and those that will like it for the silliest little things like bloodshed or their favourite character living or their most hated ones dying. To me that’s what Code Geass R2 has sort of been reduced to, a petty argument on the internet that’s really not all that important in the long run, and you know what, I was foolish enough to get involved in it and let it dominate my life for the past 5 or so months. Sorry, but I can’t help but just feel a little bitter over the whole experience and knowing that it’s mostly my own fault for getting involved is the kick in the shins, but I’ll get over it eventually and come out a little wiser and less naive about how things go in the blogosphere. I’m certainly never going to be blogging a series I’m super keen on again as that just leads to bias, fighting and everyone just not being happy. In the end I just want to end on a positive note and say thank you to the people who supported me through all of this and enjoyed my articles and to apologize to those I may have wronged, and to those who were expecting something a little more involved for this last article.

Code Geass was a blast almost the whole way through for me with a few exceptions. Those being a few weak episodes in R2, Gino being a rather lame character, and the ending feeling a bit rushed in it’s montage style wrap up of some characters stories, but overall I enjoyed the majority of it and felt it didn’t betray what I’ve come to like about this show. For now I just have one thing left to say. FREE AT LAST! FREE AT LAST! THANK GOD I’M FREE AT LAST! HAHAHA! YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! :D:D:D :D I think I’m going to sit next season out. I’ve done enough writing for the last year and a half and I believe more then a few people will be happy to see me shut up for a little while. Well it’s time to grant your wish and mine folks. Now if you’ll excuse me I have some games and anime to catch up on

Rating: Seven And A Half Out Of Ten

Final Series Rating: Eight Out Of Ten (From A Total Average Of All Episodes)

39 Responses to “Code Geass R2 Episode 25 (Finally!)”

If they are the ones from the episode I’ve got them. Otherwise do share. :)

Just to add a little more about the finale, following it little bit of discussion on the finale it occurs to me that Lelouch was turned into a bit of a Anti-Christ figure for the ending, except his death brought about peace instead of the apocalypse and more Otaku friendly.

Over the course of the series he’s been uniting the world piece by piece and in the end he finally succeeds in uniting the world fully, whilst becoming a reviled ruler who is then slain by the one true hero most of the world has ever known in Zero in a show that is as symbolic as it is real. It seems like ever since the end of episode 19 Lelouch had been trying to distance himself from Zero and by episode 21 he had figured out how to use the symbol one last time.

It wasn’t his death that made the people happy so much as it sort of gave them permission to be happy and released the united world into their own hands at last. Everybody wanted peace I think and Lelouch gave it to them in the end. Are there better ways of attaining peace in a fictional world? Sure, but this is definitely the way Lelouch wanted it. That’s his satisfying ending and his gift to Nunally. He gave her the world where she could live in peace, it’s just a shame that she can never be a part of it.

I still think in the end that Charles and Marianne were the biggest threats to this ending happening and that the final arc with Schneizel and Nunally was more of an epilogue. When I think of what I would have wanted to see more of in the montage though it would be a little more reflection from Karen. Oh well, it was still a solid if depressing ending.

“There were also some strange results at the end such as Jeremiah ending up apparently adopting Anya and moving out to an Orange farm after degeassing her.”
i guess he felt a connection to her, since he was geassed and his life was screw up, maybe she loosing pieces of her memory made him sympatice with her.

@EvilDevil: Well I’m hoping to get a bit of an after story on eventually DVD release that shows a little bit more the character endings. Somehow I think there will probably be something, if not an episode then a picture drama. And Sunrise doesn’t own my soul….okay maybe a little with Gundam. Still, I’m not afraid to admit in the end that the story could have used a little polish where the second tier characters were concerned (especially with the Knight of Rounds and Li Xingke) and overfocused on Lelouch and Suzaku’s POV a little bit to much. My policy was just to wait until the end of the series to make that call.

Plotholes though as some claim? Not that I can see, I’m not sure people have the definition for that down quite right and still think it’s getting used as a catch all term, but all that was really left to see was what Zero’s Requiem was (something people have been waiting for for 3 episodes at this point) and how it tied in to Lelouch’s action following his ascension to the throne and they delivered that quite nicely. Now some unresolved questions, perhaps a little, but nothing story killing by any stretch of the imagination.

Jeremiah adopting Anya….oh god. I really hope it IS adopting. Still if you are old enough to harbor souls of a mad woman and pilot a KMF, you are old enough to bed cyborgs. I approve!

On a related note: Jeremiah -> Best Character. I always liked his backstory, but now that he has put ‘badass’ on his resume, he totally rocks. Him running an orange orchard is also brilliant. Not because I appreciate the pun, but because it reveals that, beside being a badass KMF pilot cyborg commando, Jeremiah also has a talent for business. Orange-kun’s oranges? Those fruits will practically sell themselves. He’s rich, rich!

This was a fine episode and fine ending by all regards, and I don’t see how people could argue that it was not so. At the same time I think the series on the whole has been poor, and a good ending episode doesn’t excuse that, unfortunately.

On the other hand I don’t have the admiration of others for how Lelouch’s “martyrdom” was built up, presented and resolved (regardless of whether he actually died or not). I suppose I’m a bit harsh on it because I’ve seen something very similar done 10 times better in Tactics Ogre and 100 times better in Owari no Chronicle.

The ambiguity of the final scenes was something I loved, because it actually showed some respect for the audience’s intelligence, unlike some earlier stuff. And I know you will disagree, but it’s also why I love Kyoto Animation works in general, that behind the obvious there’s a lot of hidden content as well.

As code geass came to an end, I think we can finally discuss this series in a more general sense.

Code geass is a fusion/ mixed genre anime. The first fusion anime, in my opinion is EVA. EVA mixed the growth of an introverted boy, with awesome mecha fight, some fan service and comedy. However, the more famous fusion anime would be Nadesico. It mixed mecha anime with comedy, parody and a serious tone about wars in the eyes of otaku. Despite what others think, Nadesico is definitely on my top 10 list in terms of anime.

I personally like fusion anime, and I have no problem switching back and forth in my serious/ relax mindset. However, I know there are people who hates it, claiming a disconnect between the genres. However, is there a really a disconnect or is the connection just too subtle for someone to see? In Nadesico, we knew that is a serious anime the moment Gai dies such a non heroic death – displaying the true nature of war. Yet there are many who make such a claim “Nadesico is booooooring because all the character is boooring and only Gai is cool and they kill him off early”.

In code geass we knew that is a serious anime from the very beginning, yet there are episodes focus almost entirely on comedy (cat chasing, partner swapping on deserted island, cupid’s day…etc), in addition to that there are action sequences who are simply downright ridiculous (Susaku outruning machine guns and “suzaku kicks”, Lelouch/ Zero various “cool” pose…etc), Are these bad for the series?

It seems to me that audiences generally like to tune in for a certain wavelength when watching code geass. After watching all the comedic/ ridiculous scenes, the audiences set their minds into relax mode (like when you watch lucky star). When you are in relax mode you are not watching the show as intensely as you should (nobody trying to think through each conversation in lucky star, right?), and Taniguchi likes to throw in important plot twist in between the silly little scenes. The result is many audiences miss the hints given in the episodes and starts blaming “bad writing”. The most blatant example would be Nanally’s “survival” of Fleja, Kaioshin-sama noted the decoy plot long before it is actually shown. Is Kaioshin-Sama a genius? One step above the rest of the internet society? I personally don’t think so (sorry^^). It is only that Kaioshin-Sama is paying attention while others are not.

Finally, I want to comment on how audience view anime (or fictions in general) nowadays. If you see a potential plot hole, what would you do? To me, I would rewatch the scene a couple times to make sure I didn’t miss anything. If I indeed didn’t miss anything, I would try to speculate what’s going on. Finally I will step back and think through my speculation to see if it makes any sense at all. If it didn’t make sense then I would proclaim it “bad writing”. However, it seems to me that nowadays audience simply skip through to the final step right away – blaming directors when they didn’t see what they want to see. In a way that is how our society is heading to; my students always try to blame their teachers when they did bad in a quiz/ exam, instead of rethinking what they should do to get a better score (that is, to study!).

And you were wondering why people like Haesslich, Skane, or me (who have been, like, around for more than a decade in the anime scene) never started blogging, despite having the credentials to do so… Not only is it a lot of work (ESPECIALLY episodic blogging; I find the editorial method less aggravating), which leeches off a lot of time from real-life responsibilities, but also the fact that, well, it’s going to be impossible to give a neutral or balanced review on ANY series one follows long enough.

Why? Because ultimately your personal biases and expectations start to color your opinion on a series. A hard-core mecha fan will ALWAYS see the shiny new mecha series as the best ever, despite having the plot of a badly-written elementary student’s stage presentation, much like a fan of interpersonal relationship drama will ALWAYS give in to the waterworks when a heartwrenching scene is shown, despite the plot leading to that scene meandering more than the Amazon river during the rainy season. And when things don’t go as expected, well, you get the quaint phenomenon known as Internet Backdraft. Shippers, you know who you are…

Really, all that aggravation can be avoided simply by adopting a blaise, neutral, no-expectation attitude. “Hope is the first step on the road to Disappointment,” and boy, isn’t that true for anime viewing. It’s what I do, and while many people seem to frown on that type of attitude, I’ve found that by expecting NOTHING, I’ve actually enjoyed watching the series, since I didn’t nitpick on every little detail, looked for meaning in symbolism that’s tacked on for aesthetics, or obssessed on pairing leads.

And who says that starting in the Evangelion community doesn’t lead to anywhere?

Ironically, if everything turns well for Master’s Degree application (going for either Creative Writing or Languages and Literature) I might HAVE to put up a writer’s blog just to keep sane, as one of the final requirements is either a 100-page novel OR a pair of 50-page novellas.

As for Code Geass, I have to say, for it’s merits, it ended well. There are some questions left open, and I’m curious at Jeremiah’s transition from elite cyborg knight to orchard businessman, but that can easily be filled in by the DVD extras.

I’ve mentioned this before in other peoples’ blogs, but I feel that I need to reiterate it — for all its failings, Code Geass entertained me. It’s not a masterpiece, it’s debatable if it’s even a classic, and is seriously flawed, but it was fun, it was enjoyable, and in that makes it a success in my book.

i disagree in that lelouch survived, although i am desperately hoping so. i think c.c. may have been speaking with him by the same means she used to speak to marianne and charles to clovis after he died. i really don’t want this to be the end of code geass, seeing as it is, in my opinion, one of the best animes that have been produced thus far. in the likely and unwanted case that lelouch did die, i am disappointed that he would hurt so many people by allowing them to eyewitness his demise. though, what a noble way to go. all of the killings and sins he shouldered were ultimately for the good of the world. he had suffered silently all along, not being able to be close with anyone, having to make everyone he cared about believe that he had betrayed him. i am in utter awe of this man, fictional may he be. he was kind of like jesus, being the ultimate scapegoat who would bear so many sins and die with them on his shoulders. if jesus sinned at all, i guess. though i still fiercely hope that this is not the end of code geass. i am not ready to let go of this show. such a remarkable anime shouldn’t be left to conclude on such a morose note.

to myassa rei: about jerimiah’s orchard; when he got seriously demoted very early on in the show for letting zero and suzaku go, he was given the choice of starting over as a pilot or being in charge of an orange grove. (this being a reference to the orange scandal) and those fruits looked very much like oranges to me.

I quite enjoyed this episode. This episode made me realize the purpose of some of the events in the past such as the school events and other stuff. All those events had to do with happiness and the pursuit of happiness. By experiencing all these things, lelouch knows what happiness is (His life at ashford academy with his friends) and realizes the importance of having and pursuing that sort of thing. That’s why he dedicated his life to give everyone the chance to pursue their own happiness. To do that, he needed to create world peace. Not a very good essay but here’s my analysis on lelouch’s life

Why can’t Lelouch still be alive and enjoy his happiness? In reality that’s not how life works. No one lives long enough to truly achieve happiness. Most of the time we probably never get really close enough to actually reach it. What we see in Code Geass is Lelouch’s pursuit of happiness.

He wanted to seek out why his mother died in order to gain closure with the past and move on to the future. We can see that he finally takes action toward the future with “zero requiem”, which he came up with after finding everything out from his father and mother.

That’s also the point where he came to an epiphany with a desire for tomorrow. All his past experience and mistakes lead him to realize this. He sees his companions pursuit of happiness and the impact of those events on him made him wonder what he was really living his life for. He wasn’t living his life for nunnally, which he realized when nunnally with the dissappearence of nunnally, then with the “death” of nunnally, and finally when he had to actually fight against nunnally. Nor did he have a desire to have power (in season 1, when rivalz asked if he planned to be a CEO of a company, he said no because he really had no interest in just attaining power just to have it. [Although geass gave him immense power, he only used that power to achieve his goals, not to actually control people.]) He decided his life purpose was to open the path to happiness for everyone with world peace and to atone for the mistakes he made in the past.

In the end he gave his life to give the world a chance for the future. His death should provide closure to the viewers of what his life was all about, living his life trying to achieve happiness for his loved ones.

one more thing i have to point out is that this show is seriously similar to the Shakespeare play macbeth. we had been doing a unit on macbeth in school, and i recognized a lot of the plot from code geass. the witches who told him he would be king, all the murders, manipulating people to fight with him even though he was utterly corrupt, killing one of his best friends wife and son, and then that guy coming after him to have his revenge. when i recognized that lelouch was macbeth (right before i fell asleep on my desk) i very nearly had a panic attack right in the middle of school. i was thinking “no! lelouch can’t die! he’s too cool!” but, as fate would have it, macduff wasn’t to happy that macbeth killed his woman and killed him. if ignorance is bliss and knowledge is a weapon, then i vote for world peace (but this time, keep lelouch around.)

I’m not particularly sure about just how many episodes are bundled into each DVD release, but it’s already a given that we’ll see picture dramas in each that will give closure or at least answer some lingering questions that the series wasn’t able to answer in its run. What we might expect:

– Exposition on the 1-month period after Lelouch, C.C., and Suzaku confronted Charles and Marianne at the Thought Elevator.
– Revelation on just what the heck changed Viletta’s mind about pursuing a relationship with a ‘hated Eleven’.
– Whatever happened to Nonnette, who despite appearing on BigGlobe’s CG correlation chart, does NOT appear in the series proper.
– A little aside on some of the minor players, like the remaining Rounds before Suzaku killed them off.
– More or Sir Jeremiah Gottwald/Orange-kun’s adventures as a successful venture-business Orange Orchard farmer, with some explanation to Anya’s presence at the farm (and Sayoko NOT being there). Orange-kun’s Oranges. Now THAT is a label.

@Gideon: You know, for a while I was seeing Jeremiah as approaching the level of Sayoko (for me not a good thing), but he was so darn manly and carried the chivalry thing so far this episode, playing his role and then retiring to the simple life that I can’t help but feel he was a strong character. He’s what Gino perhaps could have been.

@FF: I don’t think it’s so much that the show doesn’t respect the audiences intelligence as it sometimes expects them to pick up on some fairly vague details in order to understand some of the characters actions or a sequence of events.

#Fuka: Pretty much my watching style exactly. Though I think it’s more that some people convinced themselves of certain myths and givens about the production and storyline that were by no means true. I think it’s also important to finish a series before deciding something is a “trainwreck”, because now as I suspected a few people are taking back that accusation. Very important to see a series out and take it from somebody who has made the mistake himself.

@DrizztxGuen: I supposed you can use your imagination, but he had the Code Geass death eyes, that little ring of sickly looking black around the eyelid. Shirley had them, Rolo had them, everybody who has had them has ended up biting it.

@Myssa Rei: Honestly I really don’t have the heart to nitpick a series to death anymore like I did with Lucky Star TV in my first outing as a blogger. I guess I’ve sort of mellowed a bit in that regard, but then again maybe it’s just because I realize that I’m 24 and watching what mostly amount to 13-18 demographic shows. I just can’t understand why people “rage” or take such offense when a show doesn’t go exactly their way and start posting slams towards production staff who can’t even read their comments in the first place. I don’t know, but on the list of things that could go wrong in my life, some show I watch killing off my favourite character or not pairing up a preferred couple (never had this issue for obvious reasons) would probably be in the moot to irrelevant category. By the way, if you want to take the novels as canon then they give a little bit of info on the Knight of Rounds that is otherwise not featured in the series. Specifically Bismarck who comes across as quite noble and was by far Charles most loyal knight. It sort of explains why he led that attack on Pendragon in episode 22.

Still, no more Mai-Hime, please…..

@anon: I’m kind of wondering whether I should place Lelouch up on the level of Simon status in just how much of an influence he managed to have on the world at the end and how he almost single-handedly changed the course of history for the better.

@Deleted1: Yeah, despite what people say there are still a lot of ties even in this final arc to events that happened in season 1. Most specifically though the Massacre Princess incident.

@Anon: I don’t know, I think Code Geass is more like a greek tragedy than Shakespeare. It has more of that pathos and melodrama that defined the classic period of drama.

This was a very good ending that wrapped up the show nicely. I firmly believe that LeLouch vi Britannia has cemented his status as one of the greatest anti-heroes in anime history.

Overall, Code Geass has been a helluva entertaining show, one that may be talked about for years to come (particularly with the ambiguous final scene). I much prefer open-ended endings like this to others that spell things out exactly for you, because it leaves things up to the audience’s interpretation. God forbid anyone actually use their brain.

Kaioshin: I’ve had a few beers in me, so this may not be as coherent as I want it to be, but I’m a bit saddened at your planned moratorium on blogging. I’ve been a long-time lurker, and your style has appealed to me a lot more than most anime bloggers who seem to take their grammar lessons from 4chan. Nonetheless, maybe the break will help you recharge your batteries, and I wish you the best.

@last anon:
(Just a quick thought. All thoughts in this comment are the property of the author and may or may not reflect reality accurately or correspond with your views)
Try this instead:
Lelouche: Hamlet
Suzaku: Laertes / Fortinbras
Euphie / Shirley: Ophelia
Charles: Claudius

And so on. Macbeth is going for personal gain by murdering Duncan, while Lelouche is out to change the world and find out the truth about the murder of his mother.

About the episode:
“The rest is silence”
The only thing that really bothers me was the editing / cutting during the first half of the episode, the central theme of Code Geass, questions of loyalty and duty (it’s to be or not to be, if you will). While it’s ‘nice’ to have everyone in the limelight, speak their line of dialogue, then make way for the next person, it breaks the dramatic tension between Lelouche and Nunnally, and Suzaku and Kallen.
As for Lelouche’s Anti-Christ-like position: I put him on the other side. Soaking up all the hatred and fear in the world and then taking them with you into the grave, cleaning the world in a last, catharthic murder? Easter has come soon this year.

Overall:
I’m going to miss my rollercoaster. It was fun, bewildering, surprising and exciting. Good night, sweet prince. And on your way out, tell the next one to come in.

And to paraphrase Tomo-chan: I was semi-correct, so… F’ing called it!!!

It’s a masterpiece, Code Geass. Though I do agree that the last set of episodes were kind of rushed, the finale was splendid. It was a perfect closure to the series’ theme and it was vague enough to stir some thoughts… well, a lot of thoughts, actually. I was a bit disappointed at the mech development toward the end. I was hoping Lelouch would get a new machine or at least an upgrade but I guess that would’ve just been execessive seeing that he planned his own demise afterwards.

Anyway, Objective as I may be, I can’t help but shout out my 2 cents. Frankly, I would’ve been satisfied with a dead Lelouch but something i read in Wikipedia made me reconsider. After watching the last episode the moment the first subbed versions were uploaded, I visited Wiki. The site has an episode summary section which posts a preliminary summary right after an episode and revises it after reliable subtitles are distributed. What I saw was posted on the preliminary summary of ep. 25. A line read or was similar to: “Lelouch used his Code power to reveal his plans to Nunnally…” This, I believe reffered to the moment Nunnally touched the right hand of a dying Lelouch and a series of screenshots depicting significant scenes flashed in the girl’s mind. Of course the summary at Wiki has already been revised but I’m positive I saw this one. I reviewed the whole episode after. The line had a point. It was possible as C.C. showed in the 1st season when Lelouch touched her while she was invading Suzaku’s mind. This loosell proves the theory that Lelouch survives via Code. Then I focused on C.C.’s and Lelouch’s foreheads. C.C.’s was covered during the entire episode but Lelouch didn’t have the code at the moment of his death and his right palm was too bloody to confirm the existence of his Father’s code. This along with C.C.’s crying scene at the chapel, where she was presumably praying for Lelouch’s safety, supports the notion that Lelouch did not have C.C.’s code and it permits the prsumption that it was Charles’ code he had. Now if you consider all this and C.C.’s last dialogue/monologue, I believe we have a strong and sound arguement supporting Lelouch’s survival.

Since Charles’ and Lelouch’s geass were the only ones which had lasting effects on the victim, we could only use the two in comparing the effects of the geass after the death of the user. Charle’s remained but was broken by Nunnally. This might be caused by a weakening of the power her due to her father’s demise in but it also entertains the notion that Nunnally might have been able to break free on her own, though Suzaku never was able to. And as seen in the last sequences, Schniezel was still under Lelouch’s geass. This set of situations then cannot prove nor disprove Lelouch’s survival.

Now, if anyone has other theories which can disprove this one, please voice them out. This is not a challenge. I erally just want to see if Lelouch’s survival can be proven logically based on what little clues Sunrise provided…

Code Geass was, well, great but not as great as is was supposed to be.
Too often we had plotthreads that felt like they had to be aborted for the sake of closure (still better than to run them into the ground) and also the seemingly need to constantly outdoo itself.

The main Plotpoints were actually dealt with well, especially Lelouche. But the less “major” a character a character was the less satisfying their “story” ended up (mostly). What about the chinese? They ended up as sideplot to justify Lelouches international Allies – even though there was setup for a lot more, just to name one example.

The ending would have worked a lot better imho if Charles and Marianne had been the “last boss” and Lelouches reign, death and aftermath had a lot more time to unfold. His death would have had A LOT more impact had he died in 24 and stayed death in 25. The “epilouge” was about 1/4th episode and could have easily taken up a whole episode. Was the whole Damocles business REALLY neccessary?

It´s definetly a great series, no doubt about it. But they simply didn´t know when to stop adding content.

There are many speculations.
None can be truly supported in any such way.
My ten cents are that there will be a sequel, perhaps that the hero known as Zero falls and Lelouch is required to return to bring this about. It’d match the Gundam stories, not the best way but it could happen.
All in all, know one will know what happens. Unless we all know the artist very well and he’s the type of guy who likes to leave people hanging or choke them with possibilities.
If he’s the sort of guy who loves making sequels, well then there you have it, good chance he will.
We’ll see.
Oh right, and after over 10 years of anime watching, I know there is a good reason I don’t blog. You never know what will happen and when it becomes a lousy ending, then you can’t help but want to run away. I recall one guy who ended his Evangeliene blog with, “The end is the end. End.” He had nothing to say. He went all out on the movie but you never know how these shows might go. C.G. was a great anime, but it had big holes in it at times. Probably only reason I can’t see it going up in everyone’s minds as worth remembering for decades to come.

1) When Charles and Marianne were killed in C’s world, Suzaku stated that he must kill Lelouch and take revenge for Euphemia. Then they cut straight to where Lelouch became emperor. If an OVA comes out I would expect to see a continuation of this scene that shows Suzaku Slaying Lelouch only to find out that Lelouch was then immortal. Then that’s when the final plan of Zero Requiem came to be.

The Code was questionably passed to Lelouch When Charles chokes Lelouch with his hand, where his code appears, the final disintegration of charles is without his hand…. which implies it stayed with Lelouch. The code activates after you die.

This is an interesting point and may be true or maybe just an over analysis. In that scenario, both Lelouch and C.C. are then immortal. Interesting….

Another possible scenario is that Suzaku did kill Lelouch in C’s world and as Lelouch was drawing his last breaths, C.C. gave him her code to save him. Her one driving force in serving Lelouch was that she couldn’t let him die so he can complete his promise to her. This could also be an over analysis on my part, but it does make some sense. In that case, C.C. became mortal and could have died in her fight with Kallen. That would also explain her desire to win that fight.

2) C.C’s original wish when she was given the power of Geass was to be loved. Even though her power gave her that wish, it wasn’t true love and she eventually locked it away. Her wish then became to die, becuase she had become disgusted with life, but was immortal. The entire reason she made the bargain with Lelouch in the first place.

Then she fell in love with Lelouch and started to long for a life with him and started caring for happiness and victory which was sort of stated during her final battle with Kallen. Lelouch was the first true love that she had ever felt. For her to display a sort of happiness at the end talking to Lelouch out loud stating that Geass doesn’t bring solitude after all clearly is a sign that he is still alive.

This point stands out even more so that C.C. herself is alive and happy since the only reason she could be both happy and alive is with Lelouch. Otherwise she would either be dead as originally promised by Lelouch, or be completely depressed and distraught that Lelouch did not keep his original promise to her before he died. When I saw her crying at the church, I thought that was the case, but then the very end kills that theory. So Lelouch is still alive.

If it was C.C. who gave Lelouch immortality, that would mean that she is mortal. Then there is absolutely no reason she should be alive, she could have just simply committed suicide. Unless she intends to live the rest of her life with Lelouch and have that love that she always wanted but never thought would exist for her.

3) The point when Lelouch is dying, Nunnaly receives the images of what Lelouch planned. The only time that has happened is by C.C. who is immortal. This also supports that Lelouch is immortal as C.C. is or once was.

4) When Suzaku drove his sword through Lelouch, did Lelouch give Suzaku the power of Geass. This also would suggest that Lelouch is immortal. Suzaku stated that he accepts this Geass. It could have been the curse of being Zero for life and the will to live bestowed by Lelouch’s Geass. Perhaps Suzaku himself now posses his own unique power.

– Either way the writers did their jobs well. By knowingly sparking this debate, they have successfully done their jobs and left plenty of room for expansion on the story line. However, if Code Geass is left as is with no more story to tell, then the ending has also served it’s purpose in closing out the main goal that Lelouch set To accomplish: “TO CREATE A WORLD WHERE HIS SISTER NUNNALY COULD LIVE IN HAPPINESS AND HAVE EVERY OPPORTUNITY AT HER DISPOSAL.”

She is now her own person with her own goals, ideals and ambitions to follow. His new world is for her and by extension to the all those who were living in fear, persecution and were denied the chance live to their fullest potential.

But I sure hope the story continues, there are a lot of unanswered questions.
1- Is Lelouch really alive? Is he Immortal?
2- Is C.C. still immortal? Did she pass it on to Lelouch?
3- Did Lelouch give Suzaku a real Geass Power? What Geass power is it?
4- The possibilities in exploring the origins of Geass. Where did it come from?

Sadly this movie reach the end. sob sob
@jay
yeah a lot unanswered Questions.
Let me give you my opinion
I think lelouch is die, because C.C is still alive.
He didn’t do the sucking power like his father did. If Lelouch did it, C.C gonna die.
That’s already answerd no 1&2 Q.

Lelouch can’t transfer his own Geass Power to other person. the one who can do that is C.C and the other one is already die.

@Jay:
For your third question, I highly doubt Lelouch gave Suzaku a Geass power. Remember that as Zero readied himself to plunge his sword into Lelouch, we had that flashback and Lelouch tells Suzaku that he likens the Geass to a wish. Suzaku’s “Geass” is Lelouch’s wish for Suzaku to away the identity of Kururugi Suzaku (Which is alright, since he’s been declared dead) in exchange for living the rest of his life as Zero, the defender of justice and peace. Suzaku willing accepts his “Geass”, Lelouch’s wish.

Well I’m glad you enjoyed the series overall, I agree with most of your opinions, especially about the final episode being kinda rushed. Shame your not gonna write about season 3, I rather enjoyed reading your reviews. (They were VERY helpful in making sense of some of the episodes I didnt understand) Good luck with future games and anime!

Just wanted to add that I noticed that Jeremiah also got rid of the taint on his legacy a little bit this episode. He served a master who was really just a selfish person in Marianne and who totally ruined Anya’s life for her own schemes. How to get rid of that taint and fully align himself with Lelouch’s much different set of beliefs? By getting rid of the Geass effect on Anya and restoring her memories to their proper state and giving her a second chance at life. I don’t know, but I felt that even if he didn’t know what Marianne did to her it was strangely fitting for an end to his and her character arc.

Overall, I genuinely liked the series although some points I feel either were added in to fill in some plothole somewhere in the series and other parts were left out entirely (but these are mainly continuity problems in my minds).

Firstly, I must state right now, that Jeremiah Gottwald is my favourite character in the whole series. He was hilarious in R1 and very poignant in R2. However, when he was granted the ‘anti-geass’ it struck me as being an OVERWHELMINGLY powerful ability. The fact that he could have in practice gone to everyone else who had ever been geassed by Lelouch could use his ability and make them effectively a ‘clean-slate’ allowing Lelouch to Geass them again, and again if he wanted, but never actually did (And why wouldn’t Lelouch use something like that to his advantage? He’s meant to be an evil genius after all). Jeremiah’s power was used TWICE if I recall correctly (Shirley and Anya) and then -moot-, never got used or even discussed again. Nani, my Honey?

Also, obviously to keep the viewer in suspense, they left out the conversation between Lelouch and Suzaku when they came up with the idea for the Zero Requiem. However, why not after all of that they at least show A LITTLE of the conversation just for continuity sake? I don’t have a problem with the ending. It was bitter-sweet for me, but I don’t disagree with the ending. I do, however, I think that there could have been a better way to finish the series, and what we were given wasn’t it by a long shot.

Cecille’s character was ultimately forgotten about by the end as were a few others. Kallen’s ever increasing boobs while she was captured was a great touch though.

for me, i think code geass r2 ended well though i wish the writers revealed C.C.’s real name.

though there are some episodes that are kinda confusing, in the end, lelouch was able to carry out his plan by activating the ‘Zero Requiem’ thing.

Maybe you notice these things as you watched the season 2 of Code Geass. (and finish watching the season 1)

~in the season 1, lelouch was planning to assign suzaku to protect his sister though it was not pushed through because of euphemia’s assign suzaku as her personal knight. ironically in season 2, when lelouch (as zero) was going to abduct his sister, suzaku came and protect nunnaly at all cost. indirect speaking, suzaku was doing what lelouch was planning in the 1st season.

~also in season 1, during the last episode, suzaku was trying to kill his best friend. in the last episode of season 2, suzaku was able to fulfill that duty in a different manner.

Are suzaku, jeremiah and cornelia immortal? just wondering. they almost died a million times already!

Looking back I can see that when I wrote this particular review I was in a really bad state and that my heart wasn’t in it much anymore. I sort of regret letting the general reactions to the series on the internet get me down and I think I’ve learned more than a couple of lessons in how to better approach my episodic blogging.

I’m not sure I agree with the person who is trying to relate this show with Macbeth. It has been roughly 10 years since I last read the Macbeth play, but in the play the primary plot was about how Macbeth is eventually corrupted by the power he so sought and becomes evil. The story is a tragedy about how the Divine Right of Kings corrupts the entire line through Divine flow of power, and how a single individual with such power can destroy an entire kingdom like poison if they aren’t careful. Code Geass is not that story.

Code Geass is essentially a cliff hanger story. I believe that when it was written the writers wanted to focus on making a story that was suspenseful. In this regard the plot is full of small holes. In the start Lulu is trying to build a place where his sister can live peacefully. To this end, he is satisfied by Euphy’s proposal and even goes along with that, feeling it’s good enough. As time goes on, he sets his eyes on avenging his mother, bringing peace to the world. In this regard, Lulu is a developing character, but his character isn’t without holes. This is a direct result of the writers attempting to make the show more exciting; and to be fair, it works for the most part from episode to episode, but it leaves the overall story slightly weaker.

If one were to look at the entire story on a continuum, the plot is about how a young man deals with the power to change the world. At the start he uses his power for his own selfish gain, and to only benefit those around directly around him such as his sister. He begins to use his power for vengeance and revenge as his hands become more and more stained. Later on, he begins to learn that he can use his power to change the world. By the sins he’s committed in the past, he realizes that he has to play the role of the Martyr to correct his mistakes and misuses of his power. This is parallel to Susaku’s character with the murder of his father, which is why the two understand each other so well towards the end. As time goes on they become more and more alike, despite their differences. This is why they are able to eventually cast aside their differences, and agree to make the world a better place. Because they know what it means to be happy, but they also understand what it means to feel deep pain.

This is why Macbeth and Code Geass are terribly different stories. Macbeth is a story about how a single man succumbs to absolute power and loses his life, whereas Code Geass is about how a man loses his life to give those around him absolute power. In the end the story itself is simply a classic ploy on whether the ends justify the means.